A Fox Presidential Primary?

Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich are all deemed possible 2012 Presidential candidates. They’re also all current employees of Fox News. Not only do they draw a paycheck from the network that would cover their presidential campaigns, they’ve also signed exclusivity deals with Fox. Politico’s Jonathan Martin talks about what this means for him and other political reporters.

Comments [9]

Bob R
from Los Angeles, CA

No matter how one slices it, I see liberal and conservative views on Fox. I don't agree with the liberals because logic defies their arguments and conclusions, but I listen. Nobody really has to read "A slobbering love affair" to know that the liberal media (everybody else basically) have written their own epitaph by embarassing unobjective reporting. Americans just became fed up with them. Far left members will always defile Fox while middle of the road and those slightly left and right, will appreciate the objectivity. CNN, MSNBC are disgusting and have been for years. It's their decision to be such.

By that second debate I realized that, of course (!), I could deny FOX an additional viewer (even if I'm not a Nielson family) by watching the re-cablecast on C-SPAN, though it was wise of you to respond to my criticism by at least this week acknowledging their existence - even if a throw-away, deprecating joke line. There's that trademarked smarmy sarcasm, again, Bob.

Oh, and I watched as the super-rich, business mogul, former Bush-era ambassador to Ireland performed even more badly in his debate with the composed Dan Malloy. "Dead-eye" Tom obviously doesn't have the gift of gab (so many "uh"s!) though, obviously, someone told him that he needed to keep both eyes open for this event!

The audience was far less behaved tonight and the enthusiasm gap seemed far more evident from Republicans than Democrats, except on the one issue of whether government functions well.

FOX foxed it up so badly, I'm tempted to replace the "o", there, with a "u"! But that is the past tense.

Yesterday (well the day before, now), a campaign worker for Dick Blumenthal called at 6pm to urge my vote for him for Senate and I assured her of it. Then she asked if I knew that there was a debate airing between the candidates at 8pm. I said no and so she told me it was on the local FOX outlet. Then I said, "Oh, I tend not to watch FOX. That's probably why I didn't."

People don't "trust" FOX News... most aren't so stupid that they don't know when they're being lied to.

What FOX viewers DO like is the liberal bashing.

The rest of Americans tune in to ALL of the other media out there that is NOT FOX.

... add up all of the other media customers together, and you've got an audience that, combined, dwarves FOX's audience- and they are people who know FOX just isn't worth giving even a minute of their day.

The negative obsession with FOX News by media critics contributes to its success and mystique and makes their ratings soar. The public simply trusts FOX News more than its competitors and when it is constantly derided, the more the public wonders why and is drawn to it while the other networks fail. Naturally conservative politicians hitch their wagon to a winner and the audience (voters) will decide to watch or not. Speaking of biased derision, perhaps thoughtful liberal critics will finally catch wise to this sometime in President Palin's second term in office.

I don't understand what makes this new. There have been TV commentators that were all but declared candidates in the past. These guys are just attempting to play more efficiently the same game that has been played in the past.

The Tea Party and the 2010 election are a dangerous experiment by Rupert Murdoch and his close circle of elite class power-mongers to see just how far they can take manipulation of the ignorant in America- the ultimate goal is a political franchise in the world's greatest "democracy," powerful enough to challenge any entrenched interest, and which they can direct at a whim.

This is the most sinister, direct, and terrifying approach to institutional domination by any power elite that the world has yet witnessed.

Murdoch spent his life building the most massive, influential, and diverse media empire on the planet, and before the old man departs this world, he's keen to see just how powerful a machine has resulted from his life's work.

Murdoch and pals have reached demigod status in terms of influence, and they're now toying with the population of the world's most powerful country for their own glorification and nefarious ends.

This is the culmination of the life's work of the world's greatest Machiavelli.